Both are well known names in technology and EFL. Both gave quite good talks. I notice now that there seems to be a tendency for speakers to get their audience to talk in groups for 5-10 minutes. I guess at the actual talk this is makes it a quite a bit more interesting, but can they cut it out of the video? Gavin Dudeney opens to the floor for the last few minutes, which I liked as well.

Nicky Hockly – three questions she asked (or put on a slide) which were though provoking.

1. When devices are mobile (something you can carry around)

2. When learners are mobile (the learner is not stuck in one place; learning vocab on the bus)

3. When the learning experience is mobile (move learners around the school, or city, as they are learning)

Gavin Dudeney had an interesting technique – he randomised his slides and then asked the audience to decide whether each one was an opportunity or a threat. For instance, ‘shared study’ where people get together and ‘produce language learning opportunities’, or platforms where teachers can sell their services. Is this a threat or an opportunity for me? MOOCs came up at the end, and Gavin was not very supportive of them – “Do the certificates have any worth?” – For his company he has a maximum online group size of 14 and 2 tutors if the group size is more than 10. A new Coursera course for language teachers was mentioned.